Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a content delivery system, and more particularly to a video-on-demand system.
Background Art
Video-on-demand is becoming increasingly popular. With video-on-demand, a consumer can choose not only the content they wish to see, but also the viewing time as well. When a person orders a video-on-demand session, the selected content is delivered from a server to a receiving unit at the person's location, which is frequently a set-top box.
One issue associated with video-on-demand systems involves resource allocation. Servers are distributed across a network and managing bandwidth between client devices and serving servers in response to client requests for content offerings can be difficult. This difficulty is compounded when the content offering is being recorded in real time when the client request is made.
It would be advantageous to have a more efficient video-on-demand system.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.